If you're a fan of the show Supernatural, you'll be hearing "Heat Of The Moment" in your head this week as Nashville SC prepare to face Inter Miami for the third consecutive match.
Last week, I put together a scouting report and highlighted some areas I thought Nashville would try to exploit as they aimed to beat Miami for the first time in their last nine tries. There weren't too many positives last week, so we’ll look at the negatives and attempt to tweak the Coyotes' game plan in hopes of finally taking down Inter Miami.
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Successes
This will be a brief list, as there weren’t many positives from Saturday. NSC advanced the ball well and moved it into the final third at a decent rate. Last week, I suggested they should sit back and try to hit Miami in transition, and that’s exactly what they did.
Jeff Remlinger
Opposing teams that complete fewer than 35 progressive passes and average under 80 progressive yards per pass often find success against Miami. Nashville had exactly 35 progressive passes and averaged 58 progressive yards per progressive pass. They met the two targets I set, and I’ll stand by the argument that this is the way to beat Miami.
The issue was Nashville weren't anywhere near clinical enough in the final third to come away with a smash-and-grab win. We’ll discuss that in the failures section.
The second thing Nashville did well was to elevate their level of intensity and physicality. The 'Yotes fouled Miami 15 times and only received one yellow card. I’d call that a success.
